Latest / Scripture Central / When God Seems Silent | Genesis 34-41 | Come Follow Me 2026 | John Hilton III | Mar 9-15

Transcript

When God Seems Silent | Genesis 34-41 | Come Follow Me 2026 | John Hilton III | Mar 9-15 · Scripture Central

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Before we start class today, I want to take a moment and talk
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We would love to have more people become aware of the
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So again, please be a part of this course.
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Answer the questions, share your comments.
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We want to hear from you. We'd love for this to be a
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OK, let's get to today's class. This is an important topic.
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Sometimes you do the right thing and life is hard.
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Scripture never promises that we'll always feel God's
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presence, but it does promise that He will never leave us.
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These principles, which have been taught since the time of
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Joseph in Egypt, still apply to us and can still bless us today
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because of Jesus Christ. The worst thing is never the
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last thing. The main story in the chapters
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we're covering today is about Joseph and his special coat.
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The story is known all over the world, partly because of the
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movies, but we're going to begin with two stories that are much
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lesser known. They're not about Joseph, and if
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these stories were graphically depicted, they would probably be
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R rated. Today's class is not going to be
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R rated, but it will be PG13. So this is definitely a warning.
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Proceed with caution. There's a reason why the stories
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we're going to be talking about today are not told in Primary,
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and we'll start out with Dinah's silence.
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To preface our discussion about Dinah, consider what Doctor Amy
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Easton wrote. Biblical texts do not exist to
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make us comfortable. They exist to make us think, to
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be engaged by God, and to affect our transformation.
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Many of these troublesome texts, of which a significant number
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involve the lives of women, are well poised to do just that.
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The issues they raise of power, violence, abuse, complicity, and
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subjugation are all too relevant in today's society, and the
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reflection they provoke may aid us as we work toward individual
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and societal change. Now, when we last saw Jacob, he
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was really worried about Esau, right?
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He was greatly afraid and distressed, but everything
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worked out between them. And so we read that after
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Jacob's wrestle and meeting Esau, he arrived safely at the
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city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city
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for 100 pieces of silver he bought from the sons of Haymore,
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the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his
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tent. Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had
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born to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land.
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So Dinah is the only named daughter of Jacob.
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She goes out to meet the other women because they've just moved
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to town. But then tragedy strikes.
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We read when Shechem, son of Haymore, the ruler of that area,
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saw Dinah, he took her and raped her.
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This is a hard story, and it would be easy to skip it or
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soften it. But as Dr. Easton writes,
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although we may understandably be uncomfortable using
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disturbing terms such as rape and abuse, and may prefer to use
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terms such as defiled and mistreated, it is important for
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us to accurately label these events.
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Failing to do so prevents us from recognizing the horrors
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that occurred anciently and more importantly, from acknowledging
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the horrors that still occurred today.
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Using more euphemistic terms is part of the culture of silence
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that enables atrocities to continue.
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So in Dinah's story we read, Shechem's heart was drawn to
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Dinah and he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her.
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Shechem speaks to his father and says, get me this girl as my
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wife. Now, as modern readers, you and
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I are wondering, what about Dinah?
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What does she want? How does she feel?
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Is she even safe? And here's part of the
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heartbreak. We never hear her voice.
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In fact, Dinah is the only named character in the chapter who has
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no dialogue and no reported thoughts.
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That's one reason why I didn't want to skip Genesis 34.
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We don't want to silence Dinah's story.
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So when Jacob hears what has happened to Dinah, he says
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nothing. He waits till his sons come
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home. And then when they arrive, we
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read Jacob's sons were shocked and furious because Shechem had
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done an outrageous thing in Israel by sleeping with Jacob's
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daughter, a thing that should not be done.
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Hamar, the local ruler and the father of Shechem, comes to
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Jacob and he says, my son, Shechem has his heart set on
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your daughter. Please give her to him as his
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wife. Intermarry with us.
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Give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves.
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You can settle among us. The land is open to you.
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Live in it, trade in it and acquire property in it.
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It sounds generous, but notice what's missing.
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No acknowledgement of what was done to Dinah, no apology, no
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justice. And it seems like Dinah is still
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remaining in Shechem's house. There's no mention of her
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feelings or where she wants to be.
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Then Shechem speaks up. He says, let me find favor in
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your eyes and I will give you whatever you ask.
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Make the price for the bride and the gift I am to bring as great
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as you like, and I'll pay whatever you ask me.
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Only give me the young woman as my wife Jacob's son say.
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We can't give our sister to a man who is not circumcised.
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That would be a disgrace to us. We will enter into an agreement
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with you on one condition only, that you become like us by
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circumcising all your males. Then we will give you our
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daughters, and we will take your daughters for ourselves.
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We'll settle among you and become one people with you.
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But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we'll take our
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sister and go. So Shechem agrees, and he and
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his father convinced all the men of the city that this is a great
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idea. So everyone's circumcised while
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they're still recovering. Simeon and Levi, who are two of
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Dinah's full brothers, take their swords and enter the town.
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They kill every male, including Haymore and Shechem, and then
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the rest of the brothers join and they loot the city, seizing
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fox herds, wealth, women. They bring Dinah back home and
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when their father Jacob hears about all of this, he is
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horrified. He says you have brought trouble
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on me. We are few in number, and if
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they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household
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will be destroyed again. Notice what's missing from
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Jacob's concern. He doesn't speak about Dinah.
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He doesn't mention God, Simeon, and Levi.
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They think the whole thing is justified.
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They say, should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?
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And that's how the chapter ends. There's no divine commentary.
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There's no. And thus we see just silence.
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Now, I can understand why this story is not included in Come
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Follow Me. In fact, it's one of the only
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chapters in Genesis that's not included in the Come Follow Me
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curriculum. And one of my students recently
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pointed out to me that every chapter of Genesis has been
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quoted in General Conference except Genesis chapter 34, the
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chapter we've been discussing. And I'm not saying that to be
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critical. I understand General Conference
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might not be the right venue for this account.
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At the same time, I think there have to be settings where we
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read and reflect on Dinah's experience.
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We can't continue to silence Dinah by skipping her story.
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Dr. Easton says texts like Dinah's story create a
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biblically sanctioned space to name and discuss abuse within a
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church setting. And it may give individuals the
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freedom and space they need to share their own stories and then
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to work toward recovery. Silence enables the continuation
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of abuse. Productive readings of dismaying
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texts help us to openly discuss modern challenges such as
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violence, abuse, and the exploitation of those who are
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marginalized and disadvantaged. Often their readings also reveal
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how God in the Bible editors are not sanctioning the violence
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found within the Old Testament. Rather, these stories exist to
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be condemned and to show the need for a different way.
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Dr. Easton, who I've been quoting from, has written some
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really powerful articles on these subjects and I've linked
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to them on the course website. So let's pause for a moment.
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What do you think is the value of having this story in the
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scriptures? What message does it have for us
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today? I believe the message for us
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today is that life continues and we have to face the good and the
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bad. I think it's important for us to
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see what happened and how it was treated and reacted.
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And as we reacted to and as we look at our lives, we need to
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realize that those things still happen today and we can't be
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silent. We need to stand up and defend
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those who can't defend themselves, those who've been
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abused, those who've been hurt. The sin and atrocity was caused
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by someone else of which they have no control and they have no
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sin. They have no reason to feel bad.
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They did nothing wrong. They did what was right.
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They were a victim. Thank you.
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It's really hard sometimes when we're in that hurt and we're in
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that grief and we feel like we've been, we've been done
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wrong to like this family was very hurt.
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Their sister, who they love was so mistreated and was hurt and
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they didn't like that at all. And sometimes when we're in that
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space of just emotional hurt, step back and like, look at the
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whole situation and think of what, what does God want here?
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Not what do I want here? I want to get revenge.
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I want to try to make things right for me and but what?
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What does God want? Thank you.
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The thought that comes to my mind is as I work with women
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around me, they don't understand how much the Lord loves them.
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And I think it's because of how society has treated them clearly
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since ancient times. And I think that is one of the
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beauties of the gospel is that Jesus Christ loves everyone,
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especially the women. Thank you.
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Recently, I came across a book called The Dinah Project.
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It's authored by a woman named Monica Coleman, and she's
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calling on Christians to make room for victims of sexual
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violence to share their stories in a church setting.
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In the book she writes, when I was being raped, I prayed that
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God would stop it. I wanted God to intervene.
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Lightning, a burning Bush, something.
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I assumed that if God could part the Red Sea for the Israelites,
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then God could stop this one man from what he was about to do to
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me. But God did not.
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There was no mystical parting of the sea, no bushes burned, no
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lightning struck, and as far as I was concerned, God abandoned
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me when I needed God the most. Why didn't God stop it?
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When I dared to voice my question, the answers I received
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hurt me even more than not having an answer at all.
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The rape was a result of your own lack of faith.
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God does not save those who enter into sinful or hazardous
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situations. God, how'd you go through this
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so you could learn something and help other people?
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None of these answers held much sway with me.
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They only made me feel worse. What kind of God, I wondered,
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could authorize this much pain in my life?
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I would rather someone had come out and said what I now say.
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I don't know. I don't know why there is
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suffering and evil in the world. I don't know why God seems to
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intervene at sometimes and not others.
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I don't know why God didn't stop it.
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I just don't know. But I do know that God suffers
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with us and loves us enough to comfort us in our suffering.
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In the most destructive instances of suffering, the
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awareness of God's presence is where we find redemption.
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When we think about Dinah, I hope we remember Hagar.
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We talked about her a couple classes ago.
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She too was a marginalized woman, suffering and driven out.
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And in the wilderness, when she was completely alone, she had an
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encounter with God. Do you remember?
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She gave him a name. She said you are the God who
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sees me. The God who saw Hagar also saw
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Dinah, and the same God would also one day suffer in silence.
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We read he was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open
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his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the
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slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent.
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So he did not open his mouth. The Scriptures don't tell us
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what happened to Dinah. All we know is that she
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eventually went with her extended family into Egypt.
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But later Jewish tradition say that Dinah was healed, went on
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to marry and had children. I really hope that that's true.
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Genesis chapter 34. It's a chapter without a hero,
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but the Bible as a whole isn't. We don't know how Dinah's story
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ended in mortality, but we do know that when the Savior comes
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again, He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
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There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for
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the old order of things has passed away.
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He who is seated on the throne said, I am making everything
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new. That's true for Dinah, and it's
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true for us and for those we love.
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Now, that's probably enough heavy stories for one day, but
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there's another disturbing story in these chapters.
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It's the story of Judah and Tamar.
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So in the middle of the story about Joseph, there's a
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scandalous family drama concerning Judah and his
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daughter-in-law, Tamar. So let's explore the story.
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Genesis chapter 38 begins with Judah marrying a Canaanite
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woman, and they have three sons. Judah's eldest son, uh, marries
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a woman named Tamar. Well, he's wicked and so God
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puts him to death. Now pause for a moment and think
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about tomorrow's life so far. She's probably married pretty
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young. She marries a wicked man.
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That can't be fun. Now she's a widow, so she's
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having a really tough life. And then it gets worse.
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The custom at the time was if a man dies leaving his wife
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childless, then the man's brother has the responsibility
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to marry her and raise up seed to his brother.
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So Judah tells Onan to marry Tamar, but Onan doesn't want to
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raise up seed to his brother. And so when Onan sleeps with
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Tamar, he prevents conception and so God puts him to death as
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well. So now Judah is getting nervous.
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You and I as the reader, we know why his sons are dying, but from
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Judah's perspective, he's like, wow, every time one of my sons
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marries Tamar, they die. I've only got one son left.
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What's going to happen if he marries Tamar?
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So Judah tells Tamar to go live as a widow in her father's
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household, and when his youngest son is older, then Tamar can
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marry him. But time passes and Tamar
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realizes that Judah is not going to give her his youngest son.
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Now think about Tamar and her life at that time.
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Women were often married as soon as they hit puberty, so she's
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probably 1314 years old when she's first married.
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Now she's had two husbands die, she's probably still in her late
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teens or early 20s, and she's thinking to herself, I want to
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have a family. Judah is not giving me my right
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and my privilege. This is where the story gets a
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little bit interesting. Tamara hears that Judah is
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heading her direction to shear his sheep, so she removes her
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widow's clothing and puts a veil on her face to disguise herself
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and she waits by the roadside. Judah sees her and assumes that
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she's a prostitute and he tries to engage her services.
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She says, well, what will you pay me?
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And he says, I'll pay you a goat, but he doesn't have a goat
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with him. And so Tamar says, give me your
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seal, your cord, and your staff so that I'll know that you're
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really going to come back. It was sort of like the ancient
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equivalent of a driver's license and a signature.
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So they sleep together. She conceives, and then she
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quietly returns home, changes back into her widow's clothes
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and waits. When Judah tries to send the
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goat to retrieve his items, he asks, where's the woman who's a
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prostitute here? And the townspeople, Like,
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there's no prostitute that's here.
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So dude was like, oh, man, I lost my stuff.
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He goes back home. Well, three months later, word
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reaches Judah. Your daughter-in-law, Tamar, is
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guilty of prostitution. And as a result, she is now
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pregnant. Judah is outraged.
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He says bring her out and have her burned to death.
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Tamar's being taken away to certain death, but she sends a
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message to Judah. She says I am pregnant by the
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man who owns these. See if you recognize who's seal
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and cord and staff these are. Judah is stunned as he realizes
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what's happened. He says she is more righteous
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than I since I wouldn't give her to my son Sheila.
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Tamar's allowed to live, and when the time comes, she gives
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birth to twins, and one of these twins, Perez, will become the
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ancestor of King David and eventually of Jesus Christ.
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In fact, Matthew begins his Gospel account by giving the
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genealogy of Jesus, and in this genealogy, 5 women are listed,
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and Tamar is one of them. So again, this is a story that's
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probably not appropriate for Primary, but it's in scripture
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and I want us to consider, why do you think this story is in
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scripture? I love this insight from Dr.
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Easton. She says.
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Tamar's story inspires me to continue to hope and to continue
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to act in those moments when I feel stuck or when I do not see
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the benefits of my actions. From her example, I gained
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strength to work within systems that at times are unjust and
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difficult. Another powerful principle from
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the story is it's a reminder that lots of people have messy
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families. You might be talking to a friend
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and your friends like, oh, yeah, all of my ancestors were
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pioneers. And you're like, oh, my
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ancestors were pirates, you know?
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But Jesus has a very messy family history.
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Just because your parents or grandparents were very
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dysfunctional does not mean that God can't create a beautiful
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family in your life. In fact, that's actually a big
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picture message from all of these chapters.
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In the stories that we're seeing, we're seeing a lot of
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imperfect families, and God is still working with them.
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And we see that in the story of Joseph.
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Today we'll focus on three parts of Joseph's life, Joseph and the
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coat, Joseph and Potiphar's wife, and Joseph and the
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Pharaoh. So as we begin Joseph's story
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once again, we see that there aren't very many heroes.
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Josephs mother Rachel has passed away.
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She died giving birth to his younger brother Benjamin.
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And Jacob definitely misses Rachel, so he favors her son
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Joseph above all the other sons. When I was a kid, I would always
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ask my parents who's your favorite child?
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And of course, you're always hoping that you're the favorite
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child. You don't have to be very smart
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to know that it is a bad idea to have a favorite child.
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And if by chance you do have a favorite child, please do not
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tell your kids who it is. But Jacob missed this lesson in
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parenting class. In fact, he made a special
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article of clothing for his son. We sometimes refer to it as the
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coat of many colors, making it very obvious that Joseph was the
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favorite child. This was a constant, and
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probably not very subtle reminder to the brothers that
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they weren't. Not only is Joseph the favorite
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son, he's not super gracious about it.
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If I were Joseph and I had dreams about my brothers
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worshipping me, I would probably keep those dreams to myself.
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But when Joseph has a dream of binding sheaves of grain with
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his brothers, and his grain stands upright and all the
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others gather around his and bow down to it, well, he tells his
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brothers about this dream and when they get mad about it, you
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would think if he has future dreams he would keep those to
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himself. But he doesn't.
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He has another dream about the sun and the moon representing
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his parents worshipping him, and all the stars representing his
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brothers are all bowing down before him.
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Imagine your younger brother wakes you up one day and says,
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hey, I had this dream. You're going to do all my.
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Doors and give me all your money.
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Now, what's for breakfast? You're probably not going to
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like that brother very much. In fact, I heard someone say
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that Joseph's spiritual gift was the interpretation of dreams,
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and his spiritual weakness was not knowing when to keep those
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dreams to himself. Well, one day, Jacob sends his
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son Joseph out to check on his brothers, who were feeding the
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flocks. As Joseph approached, we read
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Joseph's brothers saw him in the distance, and before he reached
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them, they plotted to kill him. They said, here comes that
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dreamer, let's kill him, then we'll see what comes of his
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dreams. But Ruben, Jacob and Leah's
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oldest son, intervened. He persuaded the brothers not to
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kill Joseph, but to put him into a dry cistern.
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Reuben's plan was to rescue Joseph.
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Later, the brothers stripped Joseph of his robe.
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Reuben left for a time, and while he was gone, some traitors
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arrived. Judah had an idea.
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He said, what will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up
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his blood? Come, let's sell him and not lay
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our hands on him. After all, he is our brother,
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our own flesh and blood. What a nice guy Judah is, right?
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Let's not kill him. We'll just sell him into a
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lifetime of slavery. So by the time Reuben returns,
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Joseph is gone. The brothers come up with a lie
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to tell their father. They cover his coat in a blood
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and then show it to their father.
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Jacob sees it and cries out. It is my son's robe.
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Some ferocious animal has devoured him.
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Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.
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Joseph's life is like being on a roller coaster.
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He has privilege as the favorite child and he sold into slavery.
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But then he rises to become the top servant in Potiphar's house.
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He's a leader in the home. It's an amazing turn around
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until we get to the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife.
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We read Joseph was well built and handsome and after a while
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his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said come to bed with
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me. Hopefully you're never going to
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face temptation that's that blatant, but some of us will.
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Just like Misses Potiphar notices Joseph, There might be
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someone that we're attracted to or someone that we want to
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impress, and they come to us and say something to the effect of
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come to bed with me or sin with me in a serious way.
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What will you do if that happens?
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Notice the next 3 words. But he refused.
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That's a whole sermon in just three words.
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As the story continues, we read Joseph said with me in charge,
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My master does not concern himself with anything in the
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house. Everything he owns he has
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entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house
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than I am. My master has withheld nothing
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from me except you, because you are his wife.
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So what was it that gave Joseph the courage to turn from
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temptation not just once, but over and over again?
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In verse 9 we read, Joseph says, How then could I do such a
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wicked thing and sin against God?
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There's two keys here. First, Joseph realizes that to
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sleep with Potiphar's wife would be a wicked thing.
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From the beginning, God's prophets have taught of the
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importance of the law of chastity.
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In modern times, we read in the Family Proclamation, God has
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commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be
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employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as
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husband and wife. To be clear, in our day,
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prophets have taught that the law of chastity doesn't only
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mean avoiding sex outside of marriage.
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The First Presidency has said outside of marriage between a
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man and a woman, it is wrong to touch the private, sacred parts
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of another person's body, even if clothed.
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This is an important topic. And some of us who are here
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today, we're going to be teaching youth about chastity
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really soon. And if you're teaching a
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seminary lesson or a Sunday school class, if you're teaching
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youth about the law of chastity, I hope you help them realize
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that soon they're going to be full time missionaries.
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Are they prepared to be teaching others about the law of
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chastity? Soon they're going to be the
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seminary teachers and the young men, the young women's leaders.
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When I talk about God's law of chastity with teenagers, I try
24:31
to help them realize that they've got to pay attention
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because soon they'll be the ones teaching this principle.
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The question that often comes up is why is it so important to
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live God's law of chastity? I love what President Jeffrey R
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Holland taught, He said. We declare that one who uses the
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God-given body of another without divine sanction abuses
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the very soul of that individual.
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In exploiting the body of another, which means exploiting
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his or her soul, one desecrates the atonement of Christ which
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saved that soul and which makes possible the gift of eternal
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life. And when one mocks the Son of
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righteousness, one steps into a realm of heat hotter and holier
25:13
than the noonday sun. You cannot do so and not be
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burned. Now, most of the people who are
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here today have already received their endowment in the temple.
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And so you know that there are five laws that we covenant to
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live in the endowment. If you haven't been endowed.
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This is public information. So I'm not sharing anything I
25:30
shouldn't be sharing. It's the law of obedience, the
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law of sacrifice, the law of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the law
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of chastity, and the law of consecration.
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And so you probably notice there's not a specific law of
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the Word of Wisdom or law of tithing.
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And the question that I'm wondering is, why does the law
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of chastity get a specific call out even though it's part of the
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law of obedience and the law of the gospel of Jesus Christ?
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This is one of God's greatest gifts that He gives to us,
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chastity and procreation. This is a gift that God only has
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and He gives it to us freely, and we're not to abuse it.
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Thank you. Family as part of the plan, like
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the, you know, it won't, there's no point without family.
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And if we are breaking this law, it destroys families.
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And we see that in the world today.
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Just, you know, with all the violence and everything.
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I think it's because family isn't important to people
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anymore and keeping this law is an important and I think too,
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it's to protect children so that they're born in a good
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situation. Thank you.
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It seems really clear that God cares a lot about how life
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begins and how life ends. And so some of his most serious
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commandments are built around that.
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And I think you're right, that protects the family.
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So Joseph, understanding that it was wicked to break the law of
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chastity, that's part of what gave him the strength to resist
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Potiphar's wife. But there's also another key.
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Joseph said, how can I sin against God?
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And I think this is important because Joseph realizes that
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it's not just about two consenting adults, because
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otherwise a person might say, well, what's the harm, right?
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It's two consenting results. It's fine.
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But Joseph is saying this is a sin against God.
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No matter how good you are at resisting sin, it's hard to say
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no unless you have a bigger yes burning inside of you.
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Can I share a little analogy with you?
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This is an imperfect analogy, so don't take it too far, but hear
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me out. When I was younger, I love to
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eat sugary treats. I ate this entire cake all by
27:41
myself, and I probably had a lifetime's worth of sugar by the
27:44
time I was 27 years old. And about that time, I started
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to notice that whenever I would eat sugar, I would eat a lot of
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sugar. And then I would get sick.
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So I slowly stopped eating sugar.
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I would just eat it at special holidays like the Halloween
27:59
candy dad tax I would take or pumpkin pie or cinnamon rolls on
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Christmas morning. But then I I started getting
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sick every holiday. So eventually I said I'm done.
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I will not eat any sweets. It wasn't that I didn't like
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sweets, it was that I liked being healthy.
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Does that make sense? And so if today you were to
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offer me a juicy Maple bar, I wouldn't even be tempted to eat
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it. Not because I can say no to
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sweets, but because I say yes to my health.
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Now, just to be clear, I am not saying that it's a sin to eat
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sweets. That is not the message here.
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But whatever I'm trying to deal with in my life, it's a lot
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easier to say yes to something than it is to say no.
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And I think that in Joseph's case, it wasn't that he was just
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white knuckling his way through sexual temptation.
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He felt such a deep sense of love and awe for God that the
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idea of sexual sin wasn't appealing to him.
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I'm not saying that if you're tempted in any way that you're
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don't really love God. But I do know that Jesus Christ
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has said look unto me in every thought.
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And the more we do this, the less will be our desire to sin
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when it comes to sweets. It took me a long time to lose
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my desire to eat sweets, but it happened.
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And more importantly, in the process of time, we can become
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like the people that Alma described.
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He said they, after being sanctified by the Holy Ghost,
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having their garments made white, being pure and spotless.
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Before God could not look upon sin, save it were with
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abhorrence. This can come in our lives as we
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deepen our love and awe for God. And when it comes to God's law
29:38
of chastity, I hope we can remember what President Nelson
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taught. He said few things will
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complicate your life more quickly than violating the
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divine law of chastity. When you make decisions
29:49
regarding morality, please think celestial.
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And if you have been unchaste, I plead with you to repent.
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Come unto Christ and receive His promise of complete forgiveness
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as you fully repent of your sins.
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So let's continue with Joseph's story.
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We read. And though she spoke to Joseph
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day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with
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her. Notice that the temptation comes
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regularly. You have to be ready day after
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day to resist. We read.
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One day Joseph went into the house to attend to his duties,
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and none of the household servants were inside.
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She caught him by his cloak and said, come to bed with me.
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But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
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That's an important key to avoiding sin.
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If you're in a bad situation, don't just get away from it, run
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away from it. Then we read and it came to pass
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that Potiphar's wife screamed when the servants came.
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She accused Joseph of trying to sleep with her.
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But behold, Potiphar knew that she was lying and he promoted
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Joseph in his household. I'm just kidding.
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That's not what the scripture says.
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Some of some of you are like, wow, this whole like new
31:00
translation thing. This is very different.
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It's a very different translation.
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No, that's not what happens. Potiphar throws Joseph into
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prison. However, it's quite possible
31:12
that Potiphar does believe Joseph, because if he really
31:15
believed that Joseph had assaulted his wife, he wouldn't
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have just put Joseph in prison. He would have put him to death.
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So Joseph has done the right thing and he's put in prison.
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Sometimes that happens, right? You're honest, you decide not to
31:29
cheat on a test and you fail the test and you're like, ah, the
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blessings of righteousness, right?
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Sometimes you do the right thing and life is hard.
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I wonder how Joseph felt on day one of the prison.
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Was he like, OK, God, you're going to bless me.
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Day seven, OK, any day now, the blessings going to come.
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Week 7, Month 7, month 27. Joseph is in prison for more
31:50
than two years. Do you think that he ever gave
31:54
up hope? To me, there's a little hint in
31:56
the Scriptures that suggests that he didn't give up hope.
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At the beginning of Genesis 39, when he's on top, the head of
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Potiphar's house, we read the Lord was with Joseph.
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And at the end of the chapter when he's in prison, again, we
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read the Lord was with Joseph when Joseph was on top, and when
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he was in prison, the Lord was with him.
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It's a reminder that our external circumstances do not
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indicate the degree to which God is working in our lives.
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And we definitely see that God was with Joseph as we turn to
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the story of Joseph and the Pharaoh.
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So in Genesis chapter 40, Joseph meets in prison 2 royal
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officials, the Pharaohs Butler and Baker.
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One night they both have troubling dreams and Joseph
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interprets them. The message is clear.
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One of them, the Baker is going to die but the Butler will live.
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And Joseph says Please remember me.
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But the Butler forgets. 2 years pass and Pharaoh starts having
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troubling dreams. There's a dream where 7 fat cows
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are swallowed by 7 scrawny cows. There's a dream of seven healthy
33:01
heads of grain being devoured by 7 withered heads of grain.
33:05
And no one knows what the Pharaoh's dreams mean.
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But then the Butler remembers Joseph.
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So Joseph comes and he interprets the dreams and he
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explains through the power of God that there's going to be 7
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years of abundance and those will be swallowed up by 7 years
33:21
of famine. So Joseph says to the Pharaoh,
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you should appoint someone wise to store food during the good
33:27
years so that the land can survive the bad.
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The Pharaoh can recognize that Joseph is very accomplished and
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so he appoints Joseph to be in charge.
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So in one day Joseph goes from prisoner to Prime Minister.
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During this time he's going to get married and give birth to
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two sons. First Manasseh, because God made
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me forget all my trouble and all my father's household.
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Then Ephraim, because God has made me fruitful in the land of
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my suffering. Now I think it's important for
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us to pause and think about the Pharaoh's dream.
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How does it relate to us today? Some of you remember back in the
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1990s, there was this wild new invention called the Internet,
34:08
and all of these stocks were being sold that had some
34:11
connection to Internet technology.
34:13
And basically in the 90s, you could just put money into the
34:15
stock market and it would go up, up, up.
34:18
It was incredible. In 1998, in General Conference,
34:21
President Hinckley quoted from Pharaoh's Dream.
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And then he said, I want to make it very clear that I am not
34:27
prophesying, that I am not predicting years of famine in
34:30
the future, but I am suggesting that the time has come to get
34:34
our houses in order. So many of our people are living
34:37
on the very edge of their incomes.
34:39
In fact some are living on borrowings.
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I hope we will never again see a depression.
34:45
But I am troubled by the huge consumer installment debt which
34:48
hangs over the people of the nation, including our own
34:51
people. What a wonderful feeling it is
34:54
to be free of debt, to have a little money against a day of
34:57
emergency put away where it can be retrieved when necessary.
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I urge you to look to the condition of your finances.
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I urge you to be modest in your expenditures.
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Discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt to the
35:11
extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you
35:15
can and free yourselves from bondage.
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Within a couple of years of this talk, the stock market
35:22
collapsed, triggering massive financial losses for many
35:25
people. But those who heeded the
35:27
prophets warning, we're blessed. The church today continues to
35:30
teach the importance of avoiding debt and saving money for a
35:34
rainy day. These principles, which have
35:36
been taught since the time of Joseph in Egypt, still apply to
35:40
us and can still bless us today. Now, today, we focused on three
35:44
stories. We've seen Dinas to Mars and
35:48
Joseph's. Each of them experienced deep
35:51
suffering, and each of them could have at times felt like
35:54
God abandoned them. And each of their stories ends
35:58
differently. Joseph's suffering leads to
36:00
triumph. Tamar's suffering led to
36:01
justice. But Dinah's suffering ends in
36:05
silence with no resolution. And maybe that's where some of
36:08
us are living right now. We look at Joseph's story.
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We think, well, that's great, everything turned out for you.
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But that's not how it is in my life or in the life of someone I
36:15
love. I don't see God in my story.
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Scripture never promises that we'll always feel God's
36:21
presence, but it does promise that He will never leave us,
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even when his presence seems hidden.
36:29
Joseph's story shows us that Joseph was stripped of his robe,
36:33
betrayed by those closest to him, thrown into a pit, sold for
36:37
silver. And through all of that
36:40
suffering, God would bring life. Joseph is an echo because
36:45
another beloved son would come. He too would be betrayed by one
36:48
of his own, sold for silver, stripped of his clothing, and
36:52
abandoned by his friends. From the cross, he would cry
36:56
out. My God, my God, why have you
36:58
forsaken me? And in that moment, there was no
37:01
response. Heaven stayed silent.
37:04
Christ didn't come so that suffering would immediately make
37:07
sense. He came to enter into our
37:10
suffering, to join us in the pit, to join us in the prison,
37:14
to sit with us even in our silence.
37:17
It's not fair that Dinah was a victim.
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It's not fair that Judah mistreated Tamar.
37:22
It's not fair that Joseph did the right thing and suffered
37:26
anyways. And it's not fair that Jesus did
37:29
everything right and suffered more than anyone.
37:33
But because of him, suffering is never the end of the story.
37:36
The gospel does not promise that every chapter will be easy, but
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because of Jesus Christ, the worst thing is never the last
37:47
thing.